AirCard Rental Review | (AirCardRental.com)

2 year mobile broadband contracts aren’t for everyone. Neither is having prepaid wireless broadband hotspots all across the country.

Sometimes, you just need to be able to get online for a couple days while you’re at a business conference, on vacation, or RV’ing across the country on a roadtrip. That’s where AirCardRental.com comes in.

While they advertise $5.66 per day AirCard rentals, note that you’ll get that rate if you’re renting for 30 days or more (as with most other mobile broadband rental companies). Since we last took a look at them, they’ve expanded their product line to include a variety of devices.

Like most mobile broadband rental companies, AirCardRental.com works in 4 steps:

Order Your Broadband Card

Receive in your mail via courier

Install software, plug in your broadband card, use it

Return it via a prepaid mailing envelope for $10.95 included at the time of rental.

Since process doesn’t change much from provider to provider, the major differences come down to the company, how much it costs, the underlying network provider (speed & coverage) and what devices you can get.

If you need to check Sprint’s coverage in your area, you can find their coverage tool here and on AirCardRental’s updated coverage page (at the time of this review, some of the tool did not fit on the page. We recommend viewing the tool on Sprint’s website if you encounter any issues).

Be sure to select "Data, Email and Multimedia" then plug in your address to find out if you’ll have coverage where you need it.

USB broadband cards have a 2GB per week data allowance. If renting for a month, that’s 10 GB (double the amount provided by traditional postpaid carriers such as Verizon).

On the other end of the spectrum, that works out to 292 MB per day. As such, it’s best not to use it for downloading movies and the like. Streaming services such a Hulu or YouTube would be fine, just be sure to keep track of usage.

If watching the ‘clock’ isn’t your thing, unlimited data is available for an extra $20 per week. Otherwise, going over the weekly limit is $0.02/kb (that’s $20.48 per MB. If over the limit, downloading two songs could run you about $100).

AirCardRental.com now carries the MiFi 2200 with a flat rate pricing model similar to WiFiRents.com but without the 5 GB data cap (both are $100).

While $100 may be a high price in comparison to Virgin Mobile’s $60 for 5 GB that doesn’t expire for a month, this will be most beneficial for families or business teams in the field. Since it’s unlimited data, you can share the device with up to 4 other people (5 in total) without worrying about the data cap.

Although it’s pricier at $150 per week, the difference between the two is the ability to access Sprint’s 4G network. As mentioned in the coverage and speed section above, 4G is up to 6 times as fast as 3G. Coupled with unlimited data, it’s an attractive option if you’ve got a need for high speed on the go.

Again, business teams and families will benefit the most here. Splitting 3G service with up to 5 devices can slow down the service quite a bit. If one person’s streaming YouTube, another music over Pandora all while you’re trying to get some work done downloading documents, things might slow down more than you like.

The Overdrive would fix that.

If you need it for more than 2 to 3 months, talk to Clear about the month to month plan. However, if you need it for less time, AirCard Rental may be the place to service your needs.

Also to their credit, you’ve got the 3 types of broadband cards I outlined in "How To Pick The Best Broadband Card". In short form, you should be able to find something to work with it no matter what kind of computer you have.

1 Comment

Maria Richardson says:

I rented from these guys (aircardrental.com). The aircard arrived 6 days after I requested it (USPS tracking number confirms this), so I had to make other arrangements. When the card arrived, I returned it immediately as I no longer needed it (they confirmed they got it back.) This was a month and a half ago. I’ve been ever since asking for a refund, as the card did not arrive when I asked for it (one day late is an inconvenience anyone can deal with, but it was 6 days late). They don’t seem to believe in refunds – so beware before you rent!

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In short, I'll try help you do your due diligence so let's be cool. Please don't sue me.